''Triantha'' is a small genus of flowering plants in the family

Tofieldiaceae Tofieldiaceae is a family of flowering plants in the monocot order Alismatales.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant Families of the World''. Firefly Books: Ontario, Canada. (2007). . The fami ...

, first described as a genus in 1879. False asphodel is a common name for plants in this genus. ''Triantha'' has four known species. One of these is endemic to Japan. The other three are

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. A comparison of

DNA sequence DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

s has indicated that ''Triantha glutinosa'' might be two species.Hiroshi Azuma and Hiroshi Tobe. 2011. "Molecular phylogenetic analyses of Tofieldiaceae (Alismatales): family circumscription and intergeneric relationships". ''Journal of Plant Research'' 124(3):349-357. Before the family Tofieldiaceae was established in 1995, ''Triantha'' and related genera were usually placed in

Nartheciaceae Nartheciaceae is a family of flowering plants. The APG III system places it in the order Dioscoreales, in the clade monocots. As circumscribed by APG IV (2016) it includes 35 species of herbaceous plants in the following five genera: * ''Aletris ...

, Liliaceae, or Melanthiaceae, but

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies of monocots and Alismatales have shown that inclusion of ''Triantha'' etc. in these families makes them polyphyletic. Some authors have included ''Triantha'' within the genus ''

Tofieldia ''Tofieldia'' is a small genus of flowering plants described as a genus in 1778. It is widespread across much of Europe, Asia, and North America.nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

genes and ten

chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it in ...

genes showed that ''Triantha'' and ''Tofieldia'' are

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

and closely

related ''Related'' is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on The WB from October 5, 2005, to March 20, 2006. It revolves around the lives of four close-knit sisters of Italian descent, raised in Brooklyn and living in Manhattan. The ...

sister

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

s. The species of ''Triantha'' are so closely related that the authors could not resolve any relationships among them. It was reported in August 2021 that the species ''

Triantha occidentalis ''Triantha occidentalis'', the western false asphodel, is a species of carnivorous flowering plant in the family Tofieldiaceae. It is found in the Pacific Northwest. Botanical history ''Triantha occidentalis'' was described by Sereno Watson in ...

'' is

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

, catching insects with sticky hairs and enzymatic secretions on its stem.Qianshi Lin, Cécile Ané, Thomas J. Givnish, and Sean W. Graham. 2021. “A new carnivorous plant lineage (Triantha) with a unique sticky-influorescence trap”. ''PNAS'' 118(33). ;Species # '' Triantha glutinosa'' (Michx.)

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

- sticky asphodel - Canada, Alaska, Great Lakes region, Maine, scattered other spots in USA # '' Triantha japonica'' (Miq.)

- Honshu # ''

'' (S.Wats.) R.R.Gates-western false asphodel - Western Canada (

Alb The alb (from the Latin ''albus'', meaning ''white''), one of the liturgical vestments of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Reformed and Congregational churches, is an ample white garment coming down to the ank ...

, BC), western United States ( AK WA OR CA ID MT WY) # ''

Triantha racemosa ''Triantha racemosa'', commonly called the coastal false asphodel or southern bog asphodel, is a species of flowering plant in the Tofieldia family. It is native to the Coastal Plain of the Southeastern United States, although there are a few di ...

'' (Walter) Small-coastal false asphodel - Coastal Plain of United States from TX to NJ

References

External links

Flora of North America
Tofieldiaceae Taxa named by John Gilbert Baker Taxa named by Thomas Nuttall {{Monocot-stub